I keep some of the small bottles in the pantry just for cooking. Your cooking wine will work, but remember when cooking with wines, you are condensing the flavor so it's best to cook with a wine that you would enjoy drinking....

I keep some of the small bottles in the pantry just for cooking. Your cooking wine will work, but remember when cooking with wines, you are condensing the flavor so it's best to cook with a wine that you would enjoy drinking....

Please don't use anything labeled cooking wine. They are loaded with salt and preservatives and will not be good. If you cannot drink it don't cook with it. (even if you don't like wine - even more so I would say as using cooking wine will never persuade you to become acquainted with wines!)

I always keep a bottle of dry white vermouth around. I buy Gallo which Cook's Illustrated gave top marks to. It sells for under $4 here and I've seen it on sale for under $3 from time to time. Vermouth is a fortified wine and it will keep good after opening for a month or so in your cupboard, longer if you refrigerate. Fortified means it has extra alcohol in it so it won't spoil. It also has some herbs and stuff in it and I find it generally enhances any savory dish I use it in. I use it whenever a recipe calls for 1/2 cup or less wine (white OR red) and I do not intend to open a bottle for dinner.

You can always use broth or water but alcohol carries flavor though a dish much as fat does, so it does enhance the flavor of a dish.

I periodically cook with wine but never drink it. It would be too expensive if I had to open a bottle every time. I buy wine in a large (5 liter) box with a spigot at the bottom. The wine is in a bladder so as wine comes out the bottom, the bladder deflates rather than filling with air like it would in a bottle that closes at the top. For this reason it doesn't go bad and doesn't need to be refrigerated. After opening, it's good for about 6 months and works fine for cooking. I only keep red on hand and use it when recipes call for red or white wine. I only buy it on sale and it's very cheap.

That said, where I live, box wine is actually decent wine. If they don't sell decent wine in that kind of box where you live, this may not be an option for you.